Gray Wolves

WASHINGTON - Gray wolves might benefit and sellers of investment products might not under President Obama's freezing of all proposed federal-rules changes left unfinished by George W. Bush's administration. Obama's order, which took effect as soon as he was sworn in Tuesday, gives his administration an opportunity to review numerous pending actions affecting the environment, labor relations, and other fields, and to decide whether to block them. For example, the Interior Department under Bush had announced plans to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of...

The reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves to a mountain range just south of the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an effort to re-establish the endangered species is off to a rocky start. Correspondence between Mexican wildlife officials and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed Tuesday that four out of the five wolves released by Mexico's Environment Department last October are dead from poisoning. Despite the deaths, supporters of wolf reintroduction in the American Southwest are still hoping releases in Mexico can provide a genetic boost to a small population of wolves in...

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Obama administration announced yesterday that it is lifting endangered species act protection for 5,500 gray wolves in eight states in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes. The move essentially draws the line on the predators’ rapid expansion over the past two decades. Public hunts for hundreds of wolves already are planned this fall in Idaho and Montana, and Interior Department officials said yesterday that the most suitable wolf habitat is already occupied.

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Obama administration is taking steps to extend new federal protections to a list of imperiled animals and plants that reads like a manifest for Noah's ark - from the melodic golden-winged warbler and slow-moving gopher tortoise to the slimy American eel and tiny Texas kangaroo rat. Compelled by a pair of recent legal settlements, the effort in part targets species that have been mired in bureaucratic limbo even as they inch...

WASHINGTON - Today's dogs are descendants of ancient wolves. Now, it turns out, at least some of today's wolves inherited traits from ancient dogs. Gray wolves have that name because of their color, but in North America many of them have dark or black coats instead of the standard gray. The genetic mutation producing dark coats appears to have occurred in dogs, and then spread from them to wolves when the species mated, according to researchers led by Gregory S. Barsh of Stanford University.

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Obama administration is taking steps to extend new federal protections to a list of imperiled animals and plants that reads like a manifest for Noah's ark - from the melodic golden-winged warbler and slow-moving gopher tortoise to the slimy American eel and tiny Texas kangaroo rat. Compelled by a pair of recent legal settlements, the effort in part targets species that have been mired in bureaucratic limbo even as they inch...

The reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves to a mountain range just south of the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an effort to re-establish the endangered species is off to a rocky start. Correspondence between Mexican wildlife officials and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed Tuesday that four out of the five wolves released by Mexico's Environment Department last October are dead from poisoning. Despite the deaths, supporters of wolf reintroduction in the American Southwest are still hoping releases in Mexico can provide a genetic boost...

BILLINGS, Mont. — Hunters in Montana would be allowed to kill nearly three times as many gray wolves this fall compared with last year’s inaugural hunt, under a proposal announced yesterday by state wildlife officials. Wolves in neighboring Idaho also face a potentially higher quota. And hunters there could be allowed to use traps, electronic calls, and, in some regions, bait to increase their odds of a successful kill. Final details are pending. The moves to put more wolves into hunters’ crosshairs come barely a year after the wolves came off the...

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a request by environmental groups to halt wolf hunts that are scheduled to begin next week in Idaho and Montana. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups. The groups were seeking to cancel the hunts while the court considers a challenge to congressional action in April that stripped wolves of federal protections in Montana and Idaho, and in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said yesterday that he is upholding the US Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove gray wolves from the federal endangered species list in the Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes. Wolves would remain a federally protected species in Wyoming because the state's law and management plans were not strong enough, he said. But management of the predator will be turned over to state agencies in Montana and Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, in addition to the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a request by environmental groups to halt wolf hunts that are scheduled to begin next week in Idaho and Montana. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups. The groups were seeking to cancel the hunts while the court considers a challenge to congressional action in April that stripped wolves of federal protections in Montana and Idaho, and in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Obama administration announced yesterday that it is lifting endangered species act protection for 5,500 gray wolves in eight states in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes. The move essentially draws the line on the predators’ rapid expansion over the past two decades. Public hunts for hundreds of wolves already are planned this fall in Idaho and Montana, and Interior Department officials said yesterday that the most suitable wolf habitat is already occupied.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Facing mounting pressure from Congress, wildlife advocates and the Department of the Interior yesterday agreed to lift gray wolf protections in Montana and Idaho and allow hunting of the predators. The settlement agreement — opposed by some environmentalists — is intended to resolve years of litigation that have shielded wolves in the northern Rockies from hunting, even as the predators’ population has expanded. Terms of the deal were set to be filed in US District Court in Montana.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Hunters in Montana would be allowed to kill nearly three times as many gray wolves this fall compared with last year’s inaugural hunt, under a proposal announced yesterday by state wildlife officials. Wolves in neighboring Idaho also face a potentially higher quota. And hunters there could be allowed to use traps, electronic calls, and, in some regions, bait to increase their odds of a successful kill. Final details are pending. The moves to put more wolves into hunters’ crosshairs come barely a year after the wolves came off the endangered species list.

BILLINGS, Mont. - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said yesterday that he is upholding the US Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove gray wolves from the federal endangered species list in the Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes. Wolves would remain a federally protected species in Wyoming because the state's law and management plans were not strong enough, he said. But management of the predator will be turned over to state agencies in Montana and Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, in addition to the Great Lakes states of Michigan,...

WASHINGTON - Today's dogs are descendants of ancient wolves. Now, it turns out, at least some of today's wolves inherited traits from ancient dogs. Gray wolves have that name because of their color, but in North America many of them have dark or black coats instead of the standard gray. The genetic mutation producing dark coats appears to have occurred in dogs, and then spread from them to wolves when the species mated, according to researchers led by Gregory S. Barsh of Stanford University.

BILLINGS, Mont. — Facing mounting pressure from Congress, wildlife advocates and the Department of the Interior yesterday agreed to lift gray wolf protections in Montana and Idaho and allow hunting of the predators. The settlement agreement — opposed by some environmentalists — is intended to resolve years of litigation that have shielded wolves in the northern Rockies from hunting, even as the predators’ population has expanded. Terms of the deal were set to be filed in US District Court in Montana.

BILLINGS, Mont. - The return of gray wolves has dramatically altered the landscape in portions of Yellowstone National Park, as new trees take root in areas where the predators have curbed the size of foraging elk herds, according to scientists in a new study. Stands of aspen, willow, and cottonwood are expanding in areas where for decades dense elk populations prevented new growth, said one of the study's authors, William Ripple, from Oregon State University. Although other factors may play a role, from a changing climate to wildfires, more than a decade of...

WASHINGTON - Gray wolves might benefit and sellers of investment products might not under President Obama's freezing of all proposed federal-rules changes left unfinished by George W. Bush's administration. Obama's order, which took effect as soon as he was sworn in Tuesday, gives his administration an opportunity to review numerous pending actions affecting the environment, labor relations, and other fields, and to decide whether to block them. For example, the Interior Department under Bush had announced plans to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of...